Dark Necrofia
by Anei Aikouka
Summary: She has always watched over her master. From the beginning she has been with him, aiding him in his endeavors. Now she hovers over him helplessly, watching as someone else takes her place and heals what she cannot.


Dark Necrophia

"Master…" Dark Necrophia sighed. She didn't understand. Bakura had been in trouble. Why hadn't he summoned her? The Man-eater was efficient, yes, but she was more powerful, and she had been with him for longer. She could have accepted it if he had summoned Change of Heart, or if he had just used his magic cards. Change of Heart was his special one after all, the one he created before _she_ even met him, but the Man-eater? Didn't he like her anymore?

What had she done wrong? She'd always stuck by her master. She loved him. She'd loved him since the moment she saw him, out in the desert with no food or water, and with dark spirits surrounding him, whispering thoughts of vengeance into his ears. Even though she'd known it was hopeless, she'd tried to scare them away from him, but even in his exhausted and weakened state he'd prevented her. It had only been later that she learned the truth. The dark spirits that surrounded him were the souls of his family, and he loved them still, even though they were driving him mad.

Even after they had broken through his barriers, as she knew they would, and driven him out of his mind, making him join with the dark god Zoku, trying to defeat the Pharaoh who he believed had caused his family's death, she had stayed by him. She and the other so-called monsters had been the only ones he allowed to become close to him. Why had he abandoned her now?

She watched in dismay as the boy, Honda, threw the Ring which contained her master's spirit out the window, remembering the day he had been sealed in it. He had just defeated the Pharaoh and his priests, throwing the Pharaoh over the edge of a cliff and had returned to Zoku, exhausted but triumphant. The dark god had smiled cruelly, and 'rewarded' his most faithful servant by sealing his soul into the accursed item formed out of the bodies of his family. As if the poor boy hadn't been hurt enough.

Moments later, however, the Ring was back around Ryou's neck – she'd never bothered about the child despite his close resemblance to her master. He didn't matter after all. Nothing except Bakura did. Bakura had been the one who befriended her when she was powerless, and it had been his magic that allowed her to escape the prison in which they sealed the criminal's ka after the criminals themselves were dead. Why had he abandoned her now?

She sent a wordless cry to him, and received an instant answer. :_The Pharaoh, darkling. He'd sense it if I summoned any other than a very low level monster. And you are certainly not that my dark one._: As always, she basked in his approval. Bakura was the only one she had ever felt drawn to after her ba-mate, the one whose ka she had once been, had died. The depressed, ragged, slip of a boy had grown into a man, but her care of him had not changed. She loved the broken man just as she had loved the boy, and for her, as with Change of Heart, or Dear Heart as he called her, he softened so that she wasn't cut on the sharp edges of his shattered self.

He was getting better though. Ryou was good for one other thing besides being a convenient body it seemed. Bakura cared about him, protecting him, and slowly the boy glued together the splintered pieces of Bakura's soul, making him ever closer to the man she always knew he could be. Bakura still wasn't sane by any means. She wasn't sure if anything could heal him completely; and he was still under the control of Zoku, who had sealed a part of his own soul into the Ring to ensure his survival. Still, her master was getting better, and so she was happy.

She continued to watch as Ryou covered up for Bakura – _picking out another piece to place against the finished pane_ – and Bakura followed Zoku's orders, gaining the Millennium Eye, and placing it in his pocket before relinquishing control of the body – the one that should have been his – to Ryou. Ryou didn't complain. He never did. She wasn't sure why, but she hoped that the boy felt the same way about Bakura as she did. Bakura needed someone to love him, and despite their best efforts she and Heart weren't enough.

With a sigh, Dark Necrophia relinquished her hold on the mortal world. Bakura was safe, and she had spent her energy completely just holding on enough to see him. He would be unhappy with her if she didn't take care of herself. No matter how she tried, she'd never been able to make him see that she didn't care as long as he was safe. Bakura was an enigma, despite all she knew – and all she could see – about him, and she never wanted that to change.

She loved him after all.


End file.
